November 2007 - Posts

• Dell to Help Suppliers Monitor & Report Carbon Dioxide Emissions

  Fri. Nov. 30, 2007
  by Mark Newton, Dell Environmental Strategist

  Today we have joined the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration.  Quite a mouthful, but what's important is that we're partnering with the Carbon Disclosure Project and our key suppliers to develop standard and globally-recognized methodologies within the supply chain.

  Dell's climate strategy takes into account not only the impact of company operations, such as the impact of Dell owned buildings, but also those of supplier operations and customer product use.  Earlier this year, as the first step in a long-term effort to help suppliers reduce emissions, we announced that we are requiring our suppliers to manage and report their emissions.

  Our work with the CDP will help our suppliers with emissions reporting and underscores our commitment to our company's climate strategy. Dell has reported data into the CDP for the past four years and believes the new reporting methodology and guidance will make emissions reporting streamlined and efficient for our supplier partners.

  Meanwhile we'll continue our work on our carbon neutrality goals and efforts to provide products with the most performance per watt.  Dell will neutralize the carbon impact of Dell owned and leased facilities worldwide, as well as employee business air travel, in 2008. 

  These climate stewardship efforts are a critical part of our broader efforts to make Dell the greenest technology company on the planet, and to partner with the ReGeneration in protecting the Earth.  As always, we look forward to your comments and questions and suggestions about these efforts.
  3 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• Notebook AC Adapter Survey

  Thu. Nov. 29, 2007
  by John Blain, Consumer & Gaming Liaison

  If I've learned anything from surfing customers' blogs over the last year and a half, I've learned one thing: customers do have a voice at Dell.

  When you meet people for the first time, usually the conversation drifts towards what each of you "do for a living". When it does for me, I am never surprised to see a "knowing look" when I tell people I work at Dell. Being the kind of guy I am, I hit that look head-on more often than not. I explain that rather than working at a "big, faceless corporation" as a "drone", my job is proof that the customer has a voice. When people find out I surf and respond to blogs for a living, that "knowing look" usually melts right off of their faces. "Dell actually pays people to do that?"

  In my day to day experience, I am constantly getting feedback from customers, and forwarding that feedback along to the appropriate groups. Customers are always telling me "wouldn't it be great if Dell would do <yoursuggestionhere>". I usually refer people to IdeaStorm, unless their suggestion is break/fix related. IdeaStorm is a great place to share your ideas, but sometimes our product engineers could use some specific feedback while putting together a new product design. Now is one of those times.

  We have used the same AC adapters for all Dell notebook lines since 2003. In that time, notebooks have undergone some fairly significant changes, and also during this time, virtually no changes were made to the AC adapters being shipped with our notebooks. Four years is a lifetime in the computer industry, so it's safe to say these adapters are quickly becoming yesterday's technology. They have worked well, but there's always room for improvements.

  There is at least one AC adapter in circulation for every notebook we sell, so not only is it the most common piece of Dell equipment, it is also probably one of the products we receive the most feedback about. Given these facts, our engineers have decided to focus on the AC adapter to try and determine the best ways to improve its design. This gives us a golden opportunity to give feedback at a critical time in a product's life:

  AC Adapter Survey

  Our engineers want to know how you use the AC adapters with your notebooks so they can take these scenarios into consideration during design. Being that this is one of the most ubiquitous pieces of Dell equipment, this is a chance for us as customers to tell the designers themselves how wecollectively use their product, so that they can improve the design and make an AC adapter designed to meet our needs. The survey is yet another way the customer has a voice at Dell.

  I've already filled it out, and I hope you'll join me.
  64 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• XPS M1530: Like the M1330 But Bigger

  Tue. Nov. 27, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  

   

   

  Today, the XPS M1530 is available for order worldwide. It features all of the design elements that have made the XPS M1330 a success, but it also brings a larger 15.4" display and a more powerful graphics card option—NVIDIA's 8600M GT with 256MB RAM with Direct X 10 support. Initially, the 15.4" display will support WXGA resolution, or 1280 x 800. 

  Update: 12/21—Today, we began offering higher resolution display options to customers in the United States. In addition to the original 1280 x 800, display, customers can now choose 1440 x 900, or the WSXGA+ panel that is capable of  a maximum resolution of 1680 x 1050.

   

   

   

   

  I've received e-mails and comments from customers requesting a 15" XPS notebook, and user lilredfoxie submitted an idea called 15.4 size XPS system on IdeaStorm. The XPS M1530 inludes standard features like an integrated webcam, touch-sensitive multimedia controls, a travel slot remote, brushed aluminum accents and a fingerprint reader.We'll offer a slot-loading Blu-ray disc player option (something we don't yet offer on the XPS M1330), and the system also features an HDMI output. Like most other other Inspiron and XPS notebooks, the XPS M1530 can be outfitted with built-in mobile broadband, with a choice of carriers.

  Here's a picture that compares the M1330 (on top) with the M1530 (on bottom):

  

  In this vlog, Mike Horn from the XPS Product Team discusses the features in more detail.

  Format: flv Duration: 3:37

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG
  67 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• The Story Behind Dell’s Simplify IT Initiative

  Fri. Nov. 23, 2007
  by Jeff S. Johnson, Enterprise Strategist

  Last month Dell went on record saying that Information Technology (IT) is too complex, and we have launched significant programs to simplify it.  The reactions from the marketplace - especially customers, analysts and the media - have been overwhelmingly positive.  This is certainly a ‘moon shot' kind of goal, and a risk on Dell's part. But it is a worthy initiative that can generate huge benefits for IT organizations and the companies in which they work. 

  Update 12/5: I saw that Adam Lashinsky recently questioned our Simplify IT strategy. I agree that there's much more detail we need to share as we have new developments to discuss. That's the reason that I (and others on the team)  will blog about new developments as they occur. it's not so much a question about old systems vs. new systems. It's more about industry standard vs. proprietary architecture.  We will work to make our new systems easier to deploy and manage, but that's only a part of the idea behind Simplify IT.

  What you might not know is the genesis behind this program.  It is so much more than a just a business move or some kind of fancy marketing ploy. Instead, it gets down to the very core of what millions of customers tell Dell every day. They want IT to be easier to get, run and grow, and they want someone to do something about it.  Dell listened and vowed to do just that. 

  We see the overall issues breaking down into five core are:
  

  • Simplification is needed today:  IT gets more complex every day, and the market is asking vendors to do something about it now.  Rather than making technology proprietary and mysterious, vendors are being asked to make IT simple to deploy, use, manage and update.   So Dell is focusing on the key components of simplification that will reduce complexity in the infrastructure:  Standardization, consolidation and automation, from the desktop to the datacenter.

  • Maintenance is killing innovation:  Companies tell us they want to spend a lot less time on maintenance and a lot more on innovation (more interesting projects).  But they can't because maintenance - just keeping the lights on in IT - requires most of the resources that could otherwise be used on innovation projects.  For these reasons, Dell is focusing on those components of the IT infrastructure that can be commercialized, which just happen to be the maintenance components that drive IT people crazy and waste the most time and money. 

  • Most IT projects should not require an army of consultants:  Sure, consultants are needed for complex projects or one-time deployments.  But basic infrastructure activities like email, image management, databases, virtualization, power & cooling, security and systems management should be easy enough to be managed by internal resources if a company chooses to do so.  Consolidated and automated tools with simple wizards and dashboards, along with standardized design, should be available to manage most of IT.  The goal is to use the fewest resources and deploy in the shortest time possible. Dell already provides these kinds of solutions and tools, and is working to streamline your path even more.  Dell's services model is also radically different, focusing on getting you to the finish line rather than keeping a hand in your pocket.

  • IT can and should have a minimal environmental impact:  Today, more companies are looking to juggle the need for greater computing capacity with the desire to manage power costs and datacenter space.  The computing needs of the organization always come first, but IT can address all these issues and still go greener.   Dell was the first to offer servers and PCs with dramatically lower power use, but the mission didn't stop there.  Dell is the leader in power assessment and use, thermal management, eco-manufacturing and recycling. If you want to know more, check this out.

  • IT wants to drive their own agenda and have more choice:  Proprietary technology locks an IT department into a never-ending cycle with a small number of vendors.  Over time this vendor lock-in makes it virtually impossible to change vendors or upgrade without expensive costs for hardware, software, and services.  This, in turn, creates an ongoing cycle of greater complexity.  Dell has always been about standardization and choice, with seamless upgrade paths. 

  So the next time you talk to your technology vendor, ask them what they are doing to simplify IT.   More importantly, let us know if we have these core tenets correct.  If we're missing something, let's add it to the list. 
  7 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• XPS One Design

  Wed. Nov. 21, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  I mentioned a few design-related things regarding the XPS One in my blog post from earlier this week. However, I figured that some of you out there would want to hear about it from Brian Leonard—he's the lead designer behind the product.

  In this vlog, Brian talks about some of the design goals, and discusses how the XPS One design may influence our forthcoming products.

  Format: flv Duration: 6:22

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG
  4 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• Blu-ray & Vista

  Wed. Nov. 21, 2007
  by Mark Anderson, Client OS Development Mgr.

  A while back, Peter Gutmann published a report discussing content protection under Vista; that report has led to some discussion in the blogosphere about Blu-ray playback. I wanted to take a few minutes to clarify some things.

  Much of the discussion has related to Vista's content protection methods, including HDCP. Much of the information currently floating around the blogosphere is outdated, especially that related to Blu-ray playback and HDCP.

  Most of the commercial content for Blu-ray (and HD-DVD for that matter) has protection policies that must be enforced by the playback device. Previous versions of Windows have contained similar content protection policies that have not adversely affected the use of the Windows platform as an excellent playback method, including Macrovision ACP on standard definition playback, Certified Output Protection Protocol (COPP) and S/PDIF.  None of these methods, including HDCP have made the windows platform a less reliable playback vehicle. Further, these requirements are the same on most commercial and consumer electronics devices that offer playback functionality. Dell systems provide a robust playback vehicle. Prior to offering Blu-ray for sale on any system, Dell validates the configuration for great playback on Vista. 

  Currently, with the exception of the XPS One, all Dell systems with Vista will playback Blu-ray correctly with any HDCP 1080p-capable monitor. The only exceptions are the XPS One (as Lionel pointed out) and configurations with the some entry-level versions of ATI cards which will have HDCP content protection but will not have the memory bandwidth to play back in full 1080p.  For additional information on Blu-ray playback in full 1080p with HDCP, please see this entry on the Microsoft Vista blog.

   
  9 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• Dell in SL: One Year Later

  Tue. Nov. 20, 2007
  by Laura P. Thomas, Global eCommerce

  As I landed on that title for my presentation at Metaverse07 this coming Monday, I thought it would be an appropriate one for an update here, too.  Yes, it’s been almost exactly one year since Dell Island launched to the public in the virtual world of Second Life.  To some it might seem like the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song would be an appropriate description for it, but I would have to disagree – it’s really not been as strange as it might sound.

   

  True, we’ve had a dolphin attend an Earth Day event, we’ve built an XPS 710 you can walk inside and trees that can grow as fast as you want them.  We’ve had dragons dance on a giant ark to music played by a frog and a cat.  But, we’ve also had residents of Latin America in-world asking questions and getting them answered by Michael Dell while his live webcast from NYC streamed into our StudioDell theatre.  And, connecting it all is the one not-so-strange thread of people coming together, meeting on a personal level and engaging in real conversations.

   

  To further those conversations, in July we began keeping customer service “office hours” during weekdays.  Not everyone thought this was such a great idea.  But, to myself and Todd Dell, who volunteers to staff those hours in addition to his regular job duties, it was all about offering one more way for our customers to connect with us.  It’s that same desire that is now bringing a new member to the Dell family in Second Life – Esperto Dell. 

   

  Esperto (as his name implies), is one of our technical support experts who wants nothing more than to assist customers in new and exciting ways.  He will be spending his evenings at our SL coffee shop from 7-9:00 p.m. SLT, Monday – Friday, so that he can answer your questions and provide tech support.  While his name may be Italian, he actually remembers only a little of what his grandmother taught him of that language; however, he can converse in Spanish, as well as English.  His time spent in SL is not about replacing any of the traditional methods our customers have for support, but rather providing one more avenue for you to connect with real people here at Dell.

   

  At the recent Social Media Club Workshop, well-blogged by Geoff Livingston, one of the speakers asked the audience if a corporation can be sincere.  My answer (totally my own opinion) was that while a “corporation” cannot be sincere, the people within it can.  Esperto and Todd are sincere in their desire to explore the possibilities of virtual worlds and engage in real conversations with our customers and potential customers.  I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity and visit them, if for no other reason than to get to know more of us here at Dell on that personal level.
  1 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• XPS One: New Dell All-in-One PC

  Mon. Nov. 19, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Take your pick... you might have seen some notices on Engadget, Gizmodo or Crave that the XPS One was available for pre-order. If you missed those, you may have seen the PC Magazine review, where it earned a 4.5 star rating and an Editors' Choice award. Well now it's official, we have officially launched the XPS One. It's our first-ever all-in-one system, which means the computer, the flat panel, the speakers and the integrated 2 megapixel camera and microphone are all integrated in a single piece.The XPS One will initially be available to customer in Japan and the United States.

  Update, 12-6: Just saw we posted the XPS One commercial on Dell.com. Lots of old computers blow up in a stylized environment and there's a song playing in the background. Kinda cool.

   

  From a design perspective, it's more symmetrical than many of our competitors' all-in-ones. It looks more like a standalone flat panel display. The 20" widescreen features an edge-to-edge temepered glass for an uninterrupted, seamless look. The strong yet sleek aluminum stand feeds into the smoked-glass base of the unit. Another cool feature is the motion-sensing multimedia buttons on the right side of the unit. If you move within a foot of the buttons, they light up for just a few seconds before they turn back off. The slot-loaded DVD drive also lights blue so you can see where to insert a disc. Bottom line, you can insert a DVD without turning the lights on. Soon after you start the movie, the lights fade from view so you can wach the movie undistracted.

  Just like some of our competition the XPS One can be plugged in with a single power cord. It supports multiple wireless technologies, including 802.11 a/b/g/ and draft-N for WiFi connectivity. The wireless keyboard and mouse utilize Radio Frequency (RF) technology. We chose to support RF so we could make it easier to set up—RF technology does not require pairing like Bluetooth does. However, the all XPS One units come standard with Bluetooth 2.0 support, so if you have headphones, a headset or other Bluetooth peripherals, those will work with the system as well.

  Update: RF Technology does indeed require pairing. We do this in the factory before shipping the system.

   

  Like some designs of our competitors, the XPS One only requires one cable to power the system, display, speakers, and the integrated camera and microphone. Things like the internal analog/digital hybrid TV tuner will add at least one cable, but regardless of how many cables you will use in your setup, they can be easily routed through clips on the base.

  

  Graphics-wise, you have two options: integrated video or the optional ATI Mobility Radeon 2400 HD. That card features an HDMI output and also supports DirectX 10. Just don't expect to be playing DX10 games at high resolution with this system... it's not designed to be a high-end gaming box. However, with the optional Blu-ray disk player (optional only in the United States at this point) (standard in Japan) and analog/ digital TV tuner, it does make a pretty slick high-def system. Since I usually get asked about this, the hybrid analog/digital tuner supports over-the-air HD. Connecting to a satellite or cable box requires a break out box and an IR sensor. Cable Card is not supported with the ATI 2400 HD hybrid tuner. One other note is that the maximum monitor resultion for the 20" flat panel is 1680 x 1050—that means that 1080P is not supported, since it requires 1920 x 1080.

  Note from Lionel, 11/19—I incorrectly linked to the desktop version of the ATI Radeon 2400HD card—I have updated it. Please note that we support the mobility version of the card, which does not have HDMI out. Also the analog/digital TV tuner is a separate card, not part of the ATI 2400 HD graphics card like I had said in the previous sentence. My apologies for the inconvenience.  

  Like the XPS 420, the XPS One comes with Adobe Elements Studio, which is full versions of these three Adobe applications:

  • Premiere Elements 4-For video editing
  • Photoshop Elements 6-For digital photo organization and editing
  • SoundBooth CS3-For audio editing and sound design

  In this vlog, Mary Miller from the XPS product team goes into more detail about what kind of customers we designed the system for, and takes you through some of the key usability and design features that make this product unique.

  Format: flv Duration: 7:55

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG
  40 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• My Thoughts on the WOMMA Summit

  Sun. Nov. 18, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Earlier this week, I went to Las Vegas to be part of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit 2007. Part of the reason I went was to be a speaker there. The other reason was to meet up with some old friends and to make some new ones.

  Audience-wise, it seemed like a mix of PR and Marketing agencies, along with some folks like me who represented corporate brands. I got a chance to meet with several folks representing corporate brands, and guess what? We're all wrestling with the same issues.. how to mesaure the effectiveness of word of mouth or social media initiatives, how to build communities beyond self-serving reasons, how to let go of the control that we may have (thought we) had in the past. etc. 

  

  One of the highlights for me was Richard Tait's keynote. He is the Grand Poo Bah over at Cranium, which is a company that makes games for all ages. Cranium sets out to make products that bring people together give everyone a chance to shine. As a father with two young kids at home, those goals mean something. What impressed me the most is how Richard set out to create a company culture who believes in that concept and it shows. Spending a few minutes on their company blog will give you a sense of that culture. I also noticed that their recent 12 Thanksgiving Questions post got over 1,200 comments in a single day. But Cranium's doing more than building a passionate community (Craniacs in their vernacular)—they've grown to become the third largest company in their market behind Mattel and Hasbro. Since the majority of their marketing has been driven by word of mouth, they've earned that spot with only a fraction of the marketing budget of their competition. In my view, Cranium is a company that understands that it's not just about making great products or figuring out how to distribute them more efficiently in retail—it's also about giving their customers a reason to feel passionate about the company.

  Another really cool thing was to get to spend more time with Virginia Miracle and a few others on the Brains on Fire team (see photo of Spike Jones below). If you are not familiar with Brains on Fire, they refer to themselves as "a naming and identity company" who helps thier clients connect with customers, word of mouth is one of the biggest tools they use to help do that, and they use it very effectively. If you have any reason to be interested, I would highly recommend reading their blog. And if you think your company could benefit from their services, from what I hear, the initial phone call to them helps set the tone for what to expect from them as an agency.

  

  Now for a little backstory on Virginia... She had worked at Dell in the past, but I didn't know her then. I met her through the blogosphere. She was part of a handful of bloggers (and I do mean handful) who were supportive of Dell joining the blogosphere. Her post back then prompted me to read the Brains on Fire blog, and I'm glad I did. I write this as a reminder that the in the blogosphere, the human element always matters—I remember the folks who were supportive in the early days, primarily because they helped me and many others here at Dell through some rough sledding.

  

  My presentation (see intro image of intro slide below) focused on explaining why we started with a credibility deficit, what we've been doing to try to fix that, and how companies can avoid getting into that position in the first place. Sorry Todd Zeigler, the folks at WOMMA asked me to talk about Dell Hell, so I  did. I did poll the audience a few times, but only to understand how much context to provide on the things I asked them about.

  

  Not surprisingly, I went a bit over my allotted time. A couple of things I didn't get to mention that I had hoped to... both are examples for the is it worth the risk question.

  Thing#1: You may have seen our reaction to Seth Godin's post. In a sign that things are starting to change at Dell, I got an e-mail from James T. not long after Seth's post went live. Jeff is a Dell employee in Nashville who saw the post, agreed with Seth and wanted to do someting about it. That's what started the internal discussion and led to us making some changes in that process. It's a small step, but an important one.

  Thing #2: Back when Jeff Jarvis came to Dell, he met with several of us. At a meeting with me and some of the digital media team, he asked us if we were the first Cluetrain company. All of us in the room were stunned—both by the question and the fact that it came from Jeff himself. Here's my answer: we've got much work to do before we can even think about living up to that concept... but man is it a good goal for us to keep working toward.
  5 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg

• A New Look for Direct2Dell & IdeaStorm

  Fri. Nov. 16, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Over the weekend, both Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm will get a facelift.  With this change, we will join the Dell Community Forum and StudioDell in sharing a new design for a more consistent look and feel across your Dell community experience.  These changes will affect Direct2Dell English, Chinese and Spanish blogs as well as Dell Shares.  I would describe this as another step in the evolution of our community sites. 

  Update 11/19—Over the weekend, the decision was made to delay the visual updates on both Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm. I expect that the changes will go live within the next couple of days. My apologies for the inconvenience.

  Several of you on Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm have made the case for more consistency across the sites, and the IdeaStorm folks even asked for a new design (check out davmcn's idea to give IdeaStorm a new look).  The consistent design, and the recent addition of IdeaStorm's Ideas in Action and Talk with the Moderator pages to Direct2Dell, are all a part of our effort to better integrate our communities.
  

  Beyond that, taking a page from the search engine optimization (SEO) guru Matt Cutts, we're updating the subhead of Direct2Dell. Now it will say, "A blog about Dell products, services and customers."

  I know that's something we should have done a long time ago, and for the folks that ask me what kinds of mistakes to avoid, this would be one of the lessons: If you want people to find your blog easily, then SEO matters—especially in the early days. Save the creative stuff for the content itself.

  We'd love to hear your thoughts about the changes.
  17 comment(s) del.icio.us email this digg